Metro protesters who used chalk scheduled for court

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3.com) -- Four members of the Sunset Activist Group are due in court today for a bail hearing.

They charged with gross misdemeanors for defacing property and placing graffiti outside Metro headquarters and the Regional Justice Center.

They said they were simply protesting police brutality. Their goal was to draw attention to the fact that despite numerous police-involved shootings in past years, no officer has been charged with a crime.

Police reports said it cost more than $1,500 to wash away the chalk. That figure has raised some eyebrows, and that high dollar amount is the reason the defendants are facing such stiff penalties.

Their attorney sees the charges as retribution by police. The district attorney’s office sees it as proper punishment for a crime.

“The message truly was a message criticizing Metro,” said defense attorney Robert Langford. “They didn’t like that, so they got officers to go out and arrest these people.”

“A child who uses chalk on a sidewalk is just that, a child,” said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson. “We're not talking about children defacing public property.”

This is not the first high-profile case about sidewalk chalk that has drawn attention this summer. In San Diego, In July, there was a case of a man protesting banks. He was acquitted.